Three Pipes

The construction of the hunting lodge, designed in the spirit of romantic historicism, was carried out by a Viennese firm. The chateau was furnished with hunting trophies, paintings and engravings of hunting scenes, and had its own waterworks and hydroelectric power station. A natural park with exotic trees was established around it.

Jerome Colloredo-Mansfeld probably had no idea where the fickle wheel of history would turn and who would later inhabit his chateau. In the 1930s, for example, President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk briefly stayed here, and later his successor Edvard Beneš. During the German occupation, Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch lived here for several years. After 1948, the chateau was used as accommodation for several generals and communist leaders. This was probably the reason why it did not suffer the cruel fate of many Brda villages, hunting lodges and groves, which were demolished by the army in the military area.

Around 1980, the chateau was reconstructed according to the project of the architect Chvojka from the Military Design Institute (heating, water supply, interior equipment, repair of brick parts, extensions around the chateau, etc.), so that today we do not see the chateau in its original form. In 2014, the chateau with the adjacent land, including the hydroelectric power station, was declared a cultural monument, which ensures the protection of the grounds from the point of view of conservation.

Nowadays, after the abolition of the military convoy and the establishment of the Brdy Protected Landscape Area, the Military Forests and Estates are working on a rather extensive exposition of the House of Nature. The exposition is built mainly in the former farm part of the castle, not in the castle itself. The interactive exposition has several sections that can be explored along both children's and "adult" lines. They deal with the nature and history of the mountains, including of course its recent military past. There is also an outdoor playground for children and a "forest" chapel on the site where the real chapel used to be.

To reach the hunting lodge, we will probably take the blue trail directly from Strasice along the Padrťský Brook (Klabava). It is only about 2.5 km from the southeastern edge of the village, where there is also a parking lot. We can also go to the castle from Padrťské rybníky, for example along the Josefka forest path (cycle route 2252). It is about 7 km from Dolejší Padrťský Pond. It can be said, in an exaggerated way, that who has not seen Tok, Jordán, Padrťské rybníky, Valdek or Třítrubecký Chateau, is not in Brdy.